ShareThisBy RICK MARTINO
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
John Byron Nelson Jr., a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, PGA of America life member and one of the most dominating and gracious players to ever play the game, passed away last week at the age of 94.
Nelson was without a doubt one of the greatest PGA Professionals _ as a player, golf instructor and global ambassador for the game. Simply put, Byron Nelson was as fine a golfer as he was a man.
"Byron Nelson symbolized golf with a grace that embodied the game," said Roger Warren, president of The PGA of America. "He was a true champion and a consummate gentleman both on and off the course. The PGA of America and the game of golf have lost one of our teaching and playing giants, as well as one of the greatest ambassadors the game has ever known."
Nicknamed "Lord Byron," Nelson will forever be remembered for the "Year of the Streak," in which he won a record 11 consecutive tournaments en route to capturing 18 victories and seven second-place finishes on tour in 1945. That year alone, Nelson broke the tour's 72-hole scoring record in three different tournaments.
Nelson also shot an amazing 19-consecutive competitive rounds of golf under 70. His stroke average of 68.33 over a course of 120 rounds in 1945 set a record that would stand for 55 years.
Many have described Nelson's 1945 performance as "The Greatest Year in Golf."
"Eleven straight victories is one of the great accomplishments in all of sports," Jack Nicklaus said.
"That to me is incredible," added Tiger Woods.
The Streak came just one year after Nelson won eight tournaments in 1944. Still not satisfied with his play, he declared a New Year's Resolution to reduce careless shots and improve his chipping game in 1945.
Stretching from the 1942 Texas Open through the 1946 New Orleans Open, Nelson would garner 65 consecutive Top-10 finishes on tour, including 34 victories and 16 runners-up finishes. During that span, he finished out of the Top 10 only once, as he was distracted by the closing of his dream ranch home. He would end his full schedule of touring days in the prime of his career at age 34, following six victories in 1946.
"Byron Nelson accomplished things on the pro tour that never have been and never will be approached again," Arnold Palmer once said.
The namesake of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, in Irving, Texas, Nelson is sixth on the all-time list for victories, winning 52 tournaments (just eclipsed a few weeks ago by Tiger Woods), including five majors during his playing career. Starting with the 1941 Bing Crosby Pro-Am, Nelson made 113 consecutive cuts, during a time when only the Top 20 or Top 25 finishers were in the money. His cut record would stand until 2004, when it was eclipsed by Woods as well. Nelson's cut streak ended in 1949 at Pebble Beach, when he declined to turn in his scorecard.
Nelson captured five majors (the PGA Championship in both 1940 and 1945, the Masters in 1937 and 1942, and the U.S. Open in 1939, using a one-iron to hole out from 220-yards on the second playoff hole, defeating Craig Wood.)
He is one of only seven people to be named "Athlete of the Year" by the Associated Press twice. Nelson and Woods are the only two golfers to ever accomplish this feat.
"Whether someone comes along and beats eleven in a row, it doesn't matter," former President George Herbert Walker Bush once said. "Byron Nelson was a real champion."
Nelson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974, the Texas Sports Hall of Game in 1955, and The PGA Hall of Fame in 1953. Nelson was also a mentor to numerous other PGA stars including Ken Venturi and Tom Watson.
"You can always argue who was the greatest player, but Byron Nelson is the finest gentleman the game has ever known," Venturi once said.
Using the muscles in his hips and legs rather than his wrists, in addition to an upright swing, full shoulder turn and bent knees, Nelson is generally credited for creating the modern golf swing. Nelson is also credited with being the first golfer to create a golf swing for steel-shafted golf clubs, as the game switched over from shafts made out of hickory.
Nelson developed a body motion where he made a lateral shift forward while rotating his torso and shoulder. This allowed the club to have less twisting force through the impact zone than the rapid roll of the wrists that the players from the wooden shaft era had developed.
This led to the most repetitive motion of any player _ hence the consistency of his high finishes and The Streak. In 1966, True Temper created the "Iron Byron Swing Machine," a robot that replicated Nelson's famous swing and was used to create True Temper golf equipment and align other manufacturers clubs with True Temper shafts. The USGA would also use the Iron Byron for golf equipment and ball testing.
"If somebody asked me the question sometime back _ if you played now with the equipment and stuff that they play (today), how many millions do you think you'd win?" Nelson said in 2005. "And it didn't take me long to answer it. I said, 'Well, there's one thing, I wouldn't go hungry.'"
After Nelson retired from the tour, he later became a fixture on ABC television broadcasts of golf. Nelson is recognized as the game's first television analyst. In addition, he was a regular honorary starter for the Masters.
Byron Nelson was one of a kind. His love of the game was legendary, and he thoroughly enjoyed sharing his deep knowledge and insight with others. Nelson proudly taught both amateurs and pros the game.
